---
layout: post
permalink: release-3-0/
title: 'Rainmeter 3.0.1 Release'
---
<h1>Rainmeter 3.0 Release</h1>
<hr />
<p>There are a lot of new features and capabilities in the latest
Rainmeter 3.0.  You can safely install the new 3.0 release version right
 over your existing Rainmeter 2.5 installation, and nothing you have
done will be lost or changed. There is never any need to uninstall any
earlier version of Rainmeter to use the newest version.</p>

<h3>Improved font rendering</h3>

<p>The biggest single change in Rainmeter 3.0 is that we have moved from
 the older GDI+ display rendering method for applications to the newer
and vastly better <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct2D">Direct2D</a>
 rendering engine. As a part of a bigger effort to move all of Rainmeter
 to the new engine, the initial change concentrates on improving the
quality of text displayed in <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/string">String</a> meters.</p>

<p>There will be a dramatic improvement in the quality of text you display in your skins.</p>

<p>Rainmeter will use the new Direct2D rendering by default if your
system supports it. If not, it will fall back to the older GDI+ engine,
and there will be no impact. Direct2D requires either Windows 8, or
Windows 7 with the latest <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36805">Platform Update</a>.</p>

<p>The Rainmeter user is given complete control over when Direct2D is
used and when it is not.  The overall default use of Direct2D for your
entire Rainmeter installation is controlled with the UseD2D option in
the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/manage#SettingsTab">Manage / Settings</a> Tab.  In addition, the user can have individual skins override this setting by changing the UseD2D option in the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/context-menus#SkinContextMenus">skin context menu</a>.</p>

<p>There may be some minor differences when Direct2D is used with older
Rainmeter skins, due to differences in the way Direct2D and GDI+ handle
font metrics and create the "container" the meter is displayed in.  It
is possible that some older skins, particularly those using 3rd-party
custom fonts, may need some tweaking for position with Direct2D.</p>

<h3>Other enhancements in Rainmeter 3.0</h3>

<ul>
<li>The <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/plugins/webparser#Dynamic">WebParser</a> plugin now supports <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/variables#DynamicVariables">Dynamic Variables</a>.
 This is a long-awaited and very welcome change to the way WebParser
works, and should provide a lot of flexibility in creating skins that
access the web. See <a href="//forum.rainmeter.net/viewtopic.php?p=90521#p90521">Change Announcements</a> for additional information about this change.</li>

<li>We have added support for Unicode characters in Lua scripting. This
means that you can use languages and alphabets in Lua other than those
supported by standard "ANSI" in your text editor. See <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/tips/unicode-in-rainmeter">Unicode in Rainmeter</a> for details on using Unicode in Rainmeter in general, and Lua in particular.</li>


<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/general-options#Padding">Padding</a>=<i>left,top,right,bottom</i>
 option to meters. Allows adding pixels around any or all sides a meter.
 The width and height of the meter will dynamically be adjusted to the
new size.  This can be very useful for positioning meters relative to
each other with more flexibility, and when used with the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/general-options#SolidColor">SolidColor</a>
 meter option, can give you a lot of control over the "background" of
your meters, without having to create additional meters specifically for
 this purpose.</li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/skins/rainmeter-section#AccurateText">AccurateText</a>
 option in the [Rainmeter] section of skins. One of the failings of the
older GDI+ rendering engine was some forced and undesirable extra
padding around fonts when rendered in String meters. Whether your system
 or skin uses Direct2D or not, this option can be used to render fonts
with the much more accurate method used in Direct2D. This option
defaults to 0, which will use the GDI+ positioning of the string within
all meters. When set to 1, the more accurate method will be used, giving
 you much better flexibility with relative positioning.</li>

<li>Added a new <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/measures/calc#UniqueRandom">UniqueRandom</a> option. If set to 1, any Calc measure using the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/measures/calc#Constants">Random</a>
 constant and UpdateRandom will not repeat until all values between and
including LowBound and HighBound have been used. Note that any dynamic
change to LowBound or HighBound will reset the tracking of values. See <a href="//forum.rainmeter.net/viewtopic.php?p=91109#p91109">Change Announcements</a> for an example skin.</li>

<li>Added <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/bangs#PauseMeasure">!PauseMeasure</a>, <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/bangs#PauseMeasure">!UnpauseMeasure</a>, and <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/bangs#PauseMeasure">!TogglePauseMeasure</a>
 bangs. This is similar to a disabled measure, however the measure
retains its current value instead of changing to zero.  Group versions
of these bangs have also been added.</li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/measures/general-options#Paused">Paused</a>=<i>0/1</i>
 option to measures.  This allows setting the "paused" state of a
measure, in addition to the
!PauseMeasure/!UnpauseMeasure/!TogglePauseMeasure bangs above.</li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/skins/rainmeter-section#OnWakeAction">OnWakeAction</a> option to the [Rainmeter] section of skins, to take action when Windows returns from sleep or hibernate states.</li>

<li>Important improvements made to the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/plugins/process">Process</a>
 plugin to correct issues with the plugin not being able to detect
processes started with a higher security level than Rainmeter, 64bit
processes when Rainmeter is 32bit, and processes run as a Windows
"service".</li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/plugins/inputtext#OnDismissAction">OnDismissAction</a>
 option to the InputText plugin.  This will allow you to define an
action to be taken when you hit escape to dismiss the input text field
without submitting any value.</li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/general-options/image-options#ImagePath">ImagePath</a>
 option to General Image Options.  This replaces the existing Path
option on Image meters, and extends the functionality to all other
meters that support images. <i>Note that Histogram uses
PrimaryImagePath, SecondaryImagePath and BothImagePath due to the fact
that the Histogram meter has an optional secondary measure binding.</i></li>

<li>Added a <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/general-options/image-options#UseExifOrientation">UseExifOrientation</a> option for meters using images, to automatically correct the orientation of the image based on the <a href="http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/exif-orientation">EXIF</a> data encoded by a camera.</li>

<li>Added new "Config" and "File" parameters to the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/bangs#Manage">!Manage</a>
 bang. This will allow opening the Manage / Skins panel with the desired
 config and / or skin .ini file automatically selected in the list.</li>

<li>Added a new <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/variables/built-in-variables#ROOTCONFIG">#ROOTCONFIG#</a>
 built-in variable. This provides the name of the root config - The
highest-level folder under the skins folder for the current skin.</li>

<li>Made improvements to the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/about#LogTab">About / Log</a>
 dialog to better show the source of errors.  Where possible, the config
 or skin.ini, and meter or measure section producing the error will be
displayed.  In addition, we have made improvements to the level of
detail in the Rainmeter log when there are command or bang errors, and
added a "Clear" button to the panel to remove the current contents of
the log displayed in the panel.</li>

<li>Improved performance when using the <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/bangs#SetWallpaper">!SetWallpaper</a> bang with large images.</li>

<li>Changed the mouse over behavior on <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/manual/meters/button">Button</a> meter images, to ignore transparent areas of the image. This make the behavior visibly match the existing mouse click behavior.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Version history and details</h3>

<ul>
<li>Detailed explanations of major changes at <a href="//forum.rainmeter.net/viewforum.php?f=106">Change Announcements</a>.</li>
<li>Additional details on bug fixes and other minor changes at <a href="//docs.rainmeter.net/history">Version History</a>.</li>
<li>Full history of all changes to the Rainmeter code at <a href="https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter/commits/master">Rainmeter GitHub</a>.</li>
</ul>
